‘God gave me the biggest Christmas present,’ mother says after man freed from life sentence

‘God gave me the biggest Christmas present,’ mother says after man freed from life sentence

By Matt Sledge

“The judge said life, but the Lord said otherwise,” Kendall Gordon’s mother Wanda exclaimed, as her son walked out of court a free man for the first time in 12 years.

Gordon was serving life in prison for a deadly home invasion in the Lower 9th Ward in 2009. Earlier this week, prosecutors asked a judge to toss his second-degree murder conviction, citing DNA test results and evidence pointing to other suspects.

On Thursday, Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Judge Kimya Holmes agreed to vacate the conviction handed down by a predecessor. With tears streaming down his face, Gordon embraced his mother in a courthouse hallway.